I just did my first all grain beer and I got about 60-65% efficiency. That's a success for me on my first one. I'll bring some to the next meeting if it's good. I used the rest of the grains I had left over from last year and am looking to get a sack now. I'm thinking of pale ale grains or maybe a grain that comes out red in the finished beer.

It was so low because I didn't have a system. I did not have a grain mil or a system with a false bottom. What I did was chopped up all the grain in a coffee grinder. Got some water in a pot on a stove to 175 then turned the heat off and added the grains. It stayed around 160-165 for 45 min. I then got a 5gallon bucket and put a strainer on top of it and poured in the contents slowly. When it filled up I poured some water I had heated up over it for a kind of sparging processes. Threw those grains away when it drained off and continued until the pot was empty. I measured the water putting into the bucket to come out to 3.5 gallons. Cleaned out my pot and started boiling like normal. 60 min boil (high harsh boil) I wanted to see if I could caramelize it on a stove. That yielded 3 gallons after the boil exactly. I'm lucky I got 60-65% efficiency with no system.

Next meeting I will be looking for a mil and a false bottom system for 3 to 5 gallon batches.

There's only two things you can be sure of in life. Sex and death. But at least after death you don't feel nauseous.

Well, there's your problem. I'm surprised you got 60%. 168 F is the temperature to denature the enzymes and stop all conversion. You should have been shooting for somewhere in the 148 to 158 range. Hopefully your thermometer was off, and you were actually in that range. While the enzymes will work higher than 158, they start producing more unfermentable sugars. I'd expect that you will wind up with a very sweet beer.

The weird thing about it was I got a lower gravity reading from my wort before I boiled it. It went from 1.060-1.070 before boil and 1.114 after boil. Maybe it was the corn and Brown sugar I put in at that time but I don't know. This was my first all grain and the first time I took a reading before the boil. I don't see how the amount I put in would affect it that much.

As for the final gravity the furmentor is slowing down on day 2 and the gravity is at 1.032 so I think it will get down to 1.025 or close to it.

There's only two things you can be sure of in life. Sex and death. But at least after death you don't feel nauseous.

I think tomorrow I will move this over to 3 separate 1gallon jugs and dry hop them. I tasted the gravity reading and it could use some more aromas to balance the alcohol. Maybe I'll put oak chips in one of them.

There's only two things you can be sure of in life. Sex and death. But at least after death you don't feel nauseous.

Well I'm gonna try it first. You don't put pepper and spices on a food that's servers to you until you taste it first. If it's too intense I can blend it as a last resort. Carbonation, I'v noticed helps the beer out a lot. You can't really judge it until its carbonated.

There's only two things you can be sure of in life. Sex and death. But at least after death you don't feel nauseous.

I think your final gravity is within the correct range. The sugar probably dried it out. The corn likely did nothing since it needs to go into the mash so the barley enzymes can convert it. As far as a mill is concerned, Marcello's has one you can use. Just mill your grain the day before and keep it in an airtight container.
A mash tun is easy. We can build you one of those for $10 or less if you want to stick with five-gallon or smaller batches. Though it might be better to spend a bit more and build one that can handle ten gallons or really big barley wines. Your choice.
I strongly recommend you borrow both papazian's joy of home brewing and palmer's how to brew from the club library. In the mean time, ifball you want is a working mash tun for dirt cheap, pick up a couple of 5-gallon paint buckets from home depot. And a lid. Get a bottling bucket spigot and about six feet of 1/4" tubing from Marcellos. I can help you build a mash tunnwith that in about ten minutes.

If you want a better mash tun and are willing to spend more money, get a 48 quart rubbermaid picnic cooler with a drain valve and we can help you go from there. Decide whether you want to use braided stainless hose or slotted copper or cpvc pipe to filter your wort. You will need a ball valve and some othe items too. The bucket system is fast, easy and cheap. But you will need to wrap it in towels or a blanket to keep the heat in.
Actually, i have plenty of buckets on hand, if you want to go that route, PM me and I can build one for you today if you want to come get it. Just replace the buckets at some point. Though you will still need to buy a bottling spigot and tubing.